


Dissolution

by scheherezhad



Category: Hustle Cat (Visual Novel)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 21:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16457318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scheherezhad/pseuds/scheherezhad
Summary: A relationship, dissolving in drips and drabs, across the years.





	Dissolution

**Author's Note:**

> My Nacht-tober 2018 drabbles collected for ease of reading. I really enjoyed writing these and exploring Nacht as a character.

**Destiny**

He never was one to believe in things like fate and destiny, didn't like the idea that some unknown force had decided anything about his life before he had any say in it. But if there was ever anything that could have convinced him otherwise, it'd be the moment he first saw Graves. He just knew, right then and there, he was looking at someone who was meant to be in his life. And he'd made it happen. He'd reeled Graves in with sweet-talk and coffee, with music theory and origami bats, and he was dead set on keeping him.

 

**Intent**

Magic was about intent, Graves told them. The force of will gave it power, and the intent directed it. You had to focus on what you wanted it to do, then apply force, and you could watch the world change its very shape for you. Graves demonstrated with a spoon stolen from the cafeteria, effortlessly twisting the handle into a spiral with a touch. Lance reacted like a normal person should, awed and excited, asking questions. Nacht spent a lot of time after that sick with himself for wondering how much will it would take to bind Graves to him.

 

**Breakable**

He didn't know whose fault it was, only that things seemed okay until they were screaming at each other in the middle of Blockbuster about the artistic merits of the _Halloween_ franchise. They got banned for a month, and Graves broke up with him for two. They'd always struck sparks, between Graves running hot and cold and Nacht being too damn hard-headed for his own good, but that was the first time Nacht had really been aware that this thing between them was breakable. When they got back together, he never could shake the fear of losing Graves for good.

 

**Nightmare**

Nacht got stressed and snappish, senior year. He knew he was being a dick, and he couldn’t stop it. Class work and his senior project kept him constantly busy, Xpidercoven disbanded, and he was increasingly conscious of the fact that if he fucked things up with Graves, there was nothing to hold them together after graduation. Graves would move on, and Nacht would have nothing.

The solution hit him during Thanksgiving break when he was dragging Graves out of the metal shop every night to get him to eat. He practiced for weeks and perfected it over winter break. When they got back for the new semester, he called Graves over to show him. Nacht peeled apart a soda can with a flick of his hand, folded it into an origami rose as easy as paper, and the look of horror on Graves’s face was the worst kind of nightmare.

 

**Creep**

It crept in slowly, over the next couple years. Every time Graves begged him to give up working metal magic, there'd be a little more the next time he used it. A few specks at first, tiny imperfections. Gradually, specks turned into patches turned into swathes, until what he worked was more rust than metal. He took out all his piercings when they started to turn, switched to a wood bat when his favorite aluminum crumbled under his fingers. The next time Graves left him, he punched a wall and found out the rust didn't just take to metal anymore.

 

**Sweet**

Graves got better at disappearing, over the years, and Nacht got better at following. At first he only had to show up to get Graves to let him back in, to accept being caught. The longer they played cat and mouse, though, the more Graves resisted. He stopped being as easy to sweet-talk, stopped being swayed by presents and kisses. Nacht found other methods of getting his attention. Scaring baby witches always got a good reaction. Graves would fuss, but he'd take Nacht back one more time to keep him from running off the ones who'd just found their magic.

 

**Starve**

Nacht had been searching for him for months, this time. He'd long run out of contacts willing to talk to him and favors he could call in, and he'd lost Graves's trail somewhere in Portland when he ran out of money, too, and had to stop to pick up a few gigs. By the time Nacht had a lead again, he was honed down to a single-minded focus, too starved of Graves's voice and body and touch to think of anything else. He came back to himself with Graves pinned to a wall and a curse tingling in his fingertips.

 

**Burst**

Somehow, Graves slipped away from him long enough to make some pretty big changes. Bought a building, warded it up, filled it with coffee and cats and a bunch of kids who wouldn't know a hex from holy water. He could feel them in there, ripe to bursting with magical potential. Wouldn't take much to split 'em open. But he bided his time and kept wearing at Graves's resolve. Graves wouldn't let him in, this time, but he came to Nacht, trying to protect his pathetic little coven with distance. Nacht didn't care about them, long as they didn't interfere.

 

**Forget**

Stupid of him, forgetting not to underestimate Graves's charisma. Graves had his kittens wrapped around his fingers, and they did more than interfere. They came for Nacht with their weak, fledgling powers, and he dropped them one by one. He got too cocky with the little trash witch. Shoulda rusted 'em like the others and left himself free to take on Graves. Instead, he ended up with a curse of his own and the sickening knowledge that things were well and truly over this time. He limped toward his motel, counting the blocks until he turned back. Nine, ten, eleven...


End file.
